Quick to make with minimal ingredients, this soup is nourishing comfort food at its best. A complete meal on its own, the soup is perfect for the weekly rotation and comes with built-in flexibility!
Five ingredient meals are all the rage. And why not? The concept suggests a dinner you can get on the table quickly, and who doesn’t want more of that?
When I first created this soup recipe, my intent was to limit it to five ingredients. But I soon realized it tasted so much better with a short list of extras that barely detracted from the overall ease of preparation.
In other words, broth, turkey sausage, potatoes, greens, and an onion make a pretty good five ingredient meal. But when a handful of seasonings, a touch of olive oil, and optional Parmesan cheese are added to the mix, the recipe comes to life. At least my family thinks so!
I created this hearty soup for Lancaster General Health (and for those of you who enjoy the videos, you can see me prepare it in this Health Hub post), and after making it quite a few times, I realized something funny. The list of helpful hints and options is longer than the instructions!
Readers often tell me that they love a recipe with choices. One size doesn’t fit all, and we don’t always think of all the possibilities, especially when making a recipe for the first time.
So while I think that the recipe as written is rather tasty, perhaps not everyone in your family likes sweet potatoes. Or you don’t have kale but do have spinach. Or maybe you’re simply looking for a new way to transform turkey leftovers into a new meal. This recipe accommodates all these things and more.
Though slightly more than five, the ingredient list is still short and includes everything needed to make a complete meal－filling protein, heart-healthy fat, and colorful vegetables that provide energy-supplying carbohydrates and an assortment of nutrients.
Plus, the prep is easy and it cooks quickly! (Click here or on the photo, below, to see me do it in the Health Hub video. That post also includes additional nutrition details for the soup.)
The recipe offers several alternatives to the turkey sausage, including leftover holiday turkey. For those who enjoy the flavor of sausage but prefer a less processed or leaner option, my homemade sausage recipe accomplishes that by adding spices to plain ground turkey or pork. The pictures that accompany the recipe show sausage patties, but you can use it as you would bulk sausage. I often make a double batch and freeze in 8-ounce packages to use as needed.
Also, if you’re inclined to make homemade stock with leftover turkey or even chicken bones, we made a short video where I share some of my favorite tips. (Hint: you can save money, reduce waste, and keep everything on hold until you have the time and inclination.) For a printable stock recipe, click here or on the photo, below.
You may find a bowl of this soup to be a complete meal on its own. For those who’d like to bolster it, a crusty roll, a bowl of applesauce, or a simple green salad all complement nicely.
A big pot of this soul-warming soup is also great for meal prep. My husband and I were just talking about how nice it is to have a container of soup in the refrigerator, just waiting to be ladled into bowls and reheated for a speedy but satisfying lunch or dinner.
If you try this one, I’d love to know what you think!
Turkey Sausage, Kale & Potato SoupYield: 6 servings
The perfect comfort food for fall and winter, this recipe is easy to make and versatile. You can even incorporate leftovers from a holiday turkey.
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Italian turkey sausage, removed from casings*
- 3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1½ pounds), chopped into ½-inch cubes**
- 6 cups (48 ounces) low-sodium chicken broth***
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (may omit and season to taste with fresh black pepper)
- 1 (5-ounce) package baby kale, roughly chopped (may substitute spinach)****
- Optional for serving: grated Parmesan cheese
InstructionsHeat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, and sauté until softened, 3-4 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until mostly brown, 5-7 minutes, breaking it up as you go.
Add the potatoes, chicken broth, dried Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Once the boiling point is reached, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes, adding the chopped greens in the final 3 minutes or so. So as not to overcook, check the potatoes a minute or two early and then every few minutes until done. They should be tender but not mushy.
Ladle into bowls and serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Notes & Options*You may substitute plain ground turkey or use leftover Thanksgiving turkey. In the latter case, plan on about 3 cups of shredded or chopped meat and add with the potatoes.
**I’ve used sweet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes (not Russet, which won’t hold their shape as well), and a mix for this soup, so feel free to use what you enjoy. I like to keep the skin on the potatoes, but you may peel if preferred. I’ve also used up to a quarter pound more or less of the potatoes with good results. Feel free to take a little leeway in either direction. Potatoes (especially sweet potatoes) can grow quite large, so weighing at the store, when in doubt, can be helpful.
***Homemade chicken stock may be used in place of store-bought. In that case, I add between 1¼ – 1½ teaspoons kosher salt at the end. If using table salt, which has finer granules and is therefore saltier, plan on ¼ teaspoon less.
****Chopping the baby greens will prevent the cooked greens from seeming stringy. Also, a half bunch of kale provides another alternative to the baby kale or spinach. If using, strip away the tough stems and chop the remaining leaves into bite-size pieces. I recently used a 5-ounce package of mixed baby kale and spinach, which worked very well.
A few more things…
•A 15-ounce can of beans (rinsed and drained) could be added. The outcome will be less brothy, so you may wish to have an extra cup or two of broth on hand. Conversely, you could reduce the sausage and potatoes by a ¼ pound each.
Storage: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
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- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Italian turkey sausage, removed from casings*
- 3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1½ pounds), chopped into ½-inch cubes**
- 6 cups (48 ounces) low-sodium chicken broth***
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (may omit and season to taste with fresh black pepper)
- 1 (5-ounce) package baby kale, roughly chopped (may substitute spinach)****
- Optional for serving: grated Parmesan cheese
Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, and sauté until softened, 3-4 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until mostly brown, 5-7 minutes, breaking it up as you go.
Add the potatoes, chicken broth, dried Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Once the boiling point is reached, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes, adding the chopped greens in the final 3 minutes or so. So as not to overcook, check the potatoes a minute or two early and then every few minutes until done. They should be tender but not mushy.
Ladle into bowls and serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, if desired.
*You may substitute plain ground turkey or use leftover Thanksgiving turkey. In the latter case, plan on about 3 cups of shredded or chopped meat and add with the potatoes.
**I’ve used sweet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes (not Russet, which won’t hold their shape as well), and a mix for this soup, so feel free to use what you enjoy. I like to keep the skin on the potatoes, but you may peel if preferred. I’ve also used up to a quarter pound more or less of the potatoes with good results. Feel free to take a little leeway in either direction. Potatoes (especially sweet potatoes) can grow quite large, so weighing at the store, when in doubt, can be helpful.
***Homemade chicken stock may be used in place of store-bought. In that case, I add between 1¼ – 1½ teaspoons kosher salt at the end. If using table salt, which has finer granules and is therefore saltier, plan on ¼ teaspoon less.
****Chopping the baby greens will prevent the cooked greens from seeming stringy. Also, a half bunch of kale provides another alternative to the baby kale or spinach. If using, strip away the tough stems and chop the remaining leaves into bite-size pieces. I recently used a 5-ounce package of mixed baby kale and spinach, which worked very well.
A few more things…
•A 15-ounce can of beans (rinsed and drained) could be added. The outcome will be less brothy, so you may wish to have an extra cup or two of broth on hand. Conversely, you could reduce the sausage and potatoes by a ¼ pound each.
Storage: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Calories per serving: 232, Total fat 10 g, saturated fat 2 g, cholesterol 55 g, sodium 706 mg, total carbohydrate 16.5 gm, dietary fiber 3 gm, sugar 4.6 gm, protein 18 g.
This sounds amazing and I shall make it in this very cold day. Thank you for sharing.
This is a wonderful soup for this very cold day, Lorraine. Hope it hits the spot!
I LOVE this soup! Typically I make a vegetable soup every week but I changed it up this week and followed this recipe with a few editions. I find it is not necessary to use stock. By sauteeing the onion with a diced carrot and two diced celery stalks, you have enough to flavor a nice broth. After frying the veggies and ground turkey (I used Ann’s homemade sausage suggestion) and potatoes, I added a little more Olive oil and fried my kale lightly with the other ingredients before adding 6 cups of water. I find that frying the kale adds another depth of flavor and more color to the soup. I turned off the soup after 20 and let it sit in the pot for about 30 min since I got distractes and my potatoes got a little soft but either way this is fantastic. I used 3 small sweet potatoes in 2 small russets. I will definitely make this again. This will also be nice with some fried rapini leaves in place of kale for a bitter green component. I served this soup with a sprinkle of parmesan as suggested and it was fantastic. What a delicious soup for Fall/Winter! I will definitely make this again!
Thank you for your glowing review and detailed feedback. I’m thrilled the soup is a keeper and you enjoyed the sheer flexibility of it as well!